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Monday, May 6, 2013

Researching the skydiving scene

I hate getting details wrong in my
books. This may not be entirely apparent since I have more than once gotten details
wrong in my books, but I really do a ton of research.

In Slayers: Friends and Traitors (due
out in October) I have characters jump out of a plane, and I decided it would
be a good idea if I went skydiving so I could write a more authentic scene. I
didn’t think it would be too frightening since a large amount of people skydive
every year. I figured, hey, people pay a lot of money to skydive so it’s
probably even fun.

That was my first stupid
assumption. People are idiots and you should never do something just because a
lot of people pay large amounts of money to do it. Case in point: golf.

So I booked an appointment, went
to the airport, and signed the twelve page waiver that detailed all the hideous
ways I might die. This was my favorite
part:

Basically it says I may be struck by passing aircraft, hit by vehicles on the ground, or may run into trees, buildings, or poisonous snakes.

I still wasn’t all that nervous
because I knew I was going to be strapped to an experienced instructor. He was
not likely to skimp on parachute inspection or whatever, because he didn’t want
to die any more than I did.

Then I met my instructor. He was a
twenty-three year old guy who I suspect had no sense of his own mortality. I
became a little nervous.

He took me to a small plane that sounded
like a lawn mower and seemed to be held together with duct tape, super glue,
and erector set pieces. I was a little more nervous, but I was still okay because I
figured the pilot had been flying the plane for quite some time so he had a lot of experience doing important things, like not dying.

We took off, gained altitude, and
putted around in the sky for several minutes. I was now more nervous and cursing myself for ever switching from writing romantic comedies to action novels. Really, when you come right down to it, it would be fine to write a book about boring people who never do anything dangerous.

And then the plane door opened.

At that point a spike of terror
hit me. I realized that people are born with several strong survival instincts
and one of them screams: DO NOT JUMP OUT OF A PLANE! IT WILL KILL YOU!

I said many things at that point,
all of which my twenty-three year old instructor ignored as he dragged me out
of the plane.

And then we were falling through
the sky.

Falling at around 130 miles an
hour was like standing in a wind tunnel. All I heard was the wind screaming by.
I couldn’t even tell I was falling because nothing around me was moving. Then
the parachute came out and I glided through the air at a gentle 15 miles an
hour. It did feel like flying then and was really fun—especially when we did spins.
Spins are the best.

I landed and felt great.

This would normally be the end of
the blog except for one thing.Later that
day I got a call from the skydiving company telling me that their computer
crashed. (I guess this is better than hear that their plane crashed.) They had unfortunately lost all the pictures of me but they would let
me skydive again for free if I wanted to reschedule.

Well, at that point I was still
thinking about how fun the last part of skydiving had been and not the terror of the ominous
open-plane-door-moment, so I not only rescheduled, I decided to take my teenage
son with me. (Yep, these are all pictures from the second jump.)

This dear readers just proves that there
is no cure for stupidity. Because there is only one thing more terrifying than
being in a plane when the door opens and you know you’re going to plunge out of
it. And that is: being in a plane when the door opens and you know your child is going to plunge out of it.

I do not recommend this as an after
school activity.

When I went out of the plane the
second time, I wasn’t looking for sensory details to use in my novel. I was
searching the horizon to make sure my son’s parachute had opened.

It had.

And when you all read the
skydiving scene in Slayers: Friends and Traitors I hope you appreciate my
diligent research.

4 comments:

First of all I would never be in a plane ready to plunge to my death. I know my son would if he had the opportunity, and I am so glad for scout leaders that took him repelling. I was happy that he came home from a white water rafting trip in one piece - but angry that the friends that took him never bothered to get my permission - I probably wouldn't have given it. I think if for some reason I was forced to be in the plane and both my son and I were going to plunge out I would have grabbed onto him and tried to be the one on the bottom.You are so brave - and I love your smile. Obviously your son thinks the world of you.Congratulations on 2 safe landings.